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Murray » After a week of great baseball, Tallahassee, Fla. defeated Tri-Valley, Calif. 8-7 to capture the national 13-and-under Babe Ruth World Series championship at Ken Price Ballpark.
The Tallahassee team was a juggernaut the whole tournament, going undefeated through the bracket. The Florida club began in pool play beating all of their opponents by double figures, and then rolled to the championship game relatively unscathed through the single-elimination portion. Their manager, Travis Erven praised his team, citing its heart, desire and dedication as being integral to its success.
"These kids performed at a high level the whole summer, and when you have talent like this, it makes the job a heck of a lot easier," said Erven.
For all the players, coaches, and parents involved, their time spent in Murray will be looked at fondly, from the champs from Tallahassee, to the Leominster, Mass. team which went winless in their four games during the tournament.
Said Leominster manager, Steve Colella, "You know, if they told us beforehand that we would not have won a single game, the whole team and I would have still come out here and participated and enjoyed and remembered our time out here."
A plethora of volunteers worked countless hours to ensure the Series went off without a hitch. From the grounds crew which made sure the field was kept in immaculate shape, to the Series coordinators who
In the Babe Ruth World Series, players do not stay in a hotel with their parents or coaches; instead they are taken in with two or three other teammates at a host family's house.
The Murray teams' parents were host families to the players that were participating this year. Allyson Christensen, whose son Ben Christensen is a member of the Murray team, took in three players from the Leominster squad.
"At first we did not know how it would play out, but the boys have been great, and they also have their parents out here as well, so if any problems were to arise it wouldn't be a total catastrophe," Allyson Christensen said with a laugh. "Luckily we're here at the ballpark for a majority of the time, so they're not totally tearing up the house."
Utah had two entrants in the World Series, with Taylorsville getting a berth from winning the state championship, and Murray gaining entry as host team of the event.
Murray played well in the tournament, which is not always the case for host teams, which are usually not as good as the other teams that qualify through states and then regionals.
Murray rebounded from a tough start in the Series -- losing 21-2 to Tallahassee -- and rallied to make it to the quarterfinals before being eliminated by Harris Township of Indiana.
Taylorsville, the Utah state champs, came up short in pool play, and did not advance to the single-elimination portion of the tournament.
» Murray, the series host, did surprisingly well. Local hosts don't have to qualify through regionals. Murray made the quarterfinals.
» Taylorsville, the Utah state champs, lost in pool play and did not advance.
